Microsoft has become the second publicly traded company in history to reach a $4 trillion market valuation, propelled by booming demand for artificial intelligence and record performance from its cloud computing division.
The milestone was reached on Thursday, just weeks after chipmaker Nvidia became the first company to cross the same threshold on 9 July. The Washington-based tech giant’s achievement follows a strong quarterly earnings report and a bold forecast for future AI-led capital investment.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform continues to be a primary driver of growth, with the company reporting surging sales in its most recent update. It also announced plans to spend a record $30 billion in capital expenditure during the first quarter of its current fiscal year—largely to expand AI infrastructure and meet intensifying enterprise demand.
“It is in the process of becoming more of a cloud infrastructure business and a leader in enterprise AI, doing so very profitably and cash generatively despite the heavy AI capital expenditures,” said Gerrit Smit, lead portfolio manager at the Stonehage Fleming Global Best Ideas Equity Fund.
Microsoft first surpassed the $1 trillion mark in April 2019. Compared to the rapid ascent of Nvidia—whose value has tripled in under 12 months—Microsoft’s growth has been more measured, underpinned by consistent earnings and strategic shifts toward cloud services and artificial intelligence.
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